The Victorian state government will establish a new recycling facility in Dandenong with a capacity to process a third of the state’s solvent waste each year.
The $9 million facility, which will be the biggest of its kind in Victoria, will turn cleaning solvents, inks and paints into products that can be re-used by industry, such as secondary cleaning liquids used in spray guns, alternative fuels and raw solvent material.
The facility will be delivered by Remondis Australia and will feature three distillation units capable of processing up to 9,600 tonnes of hazardous solvent waste once up and running in 2024.
In making the announcement, Minister for Energy, Environment and Climate Change Lily D’Ambrosio said the project would put ‘a massive dent’ into the 29,000 tonnes of recyclable liquid hazardous waste that is disposed of each year in Victoria, while reducing the need for storage which carries fire, health and environmental risks if managed inappropriately.
“We’re taking the important steps needed to reduce the risks of hazardous waste management – recycling it where we can means we’re building a cleaner, greener state – creating jobs and generating new value for the Victorian economy,” the Minister said.
Member for Dandenong Gabrielle Williams added: “To have Remondis expand their existing operations to include hazardous waste recycling is great news – it means more local jobs and reducing Victoria’s dependency on raw materials.”
